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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 3rd 2026 - 08:14 UTC

Tag: Ivan Cepeda

  • Tuesday, June 30th 2026 - 22:19 UTC

    Cepeda threatens 'civil disobedience' unless Colombia's president-elect renounces US citizenship

    Colombian Constitution does not prohibit dual nationality for the presidency: it requires being born in the country and being over 30, requirements that De la Espriella, born in Bogotá, meets

    Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, who lost Colombia's presidential runoff, announced on Tuesday that he will resort to “peaceful civil disobedience” against the incoming government of Abelardo de la Espriella if the president-elect does not renounce his US citizenship and clarify a series of questions before taking office on August 7. The Pacto Histórico leader, from the party of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, urged his voters to join the measure, which he described as not recognizing the new president's authority.

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  • Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 13:24 UTC

    De la Espriella gives a victory speech vowing unity as Cepeda awaits the final tally

    ”The electoral campaign is over, the divisions are over (...) and the supreme hour of service to the homeland begins,” De la Espriella said

    Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella delivered a victory speech on Sunday in Barranquilla, in which he proclaimed himself the winner of Colombia's presidential runoff according to the preliminary count and called for national unity, while the official tally remained under way and his rival, left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, conditioned recognition of the result on the definitive count.

  • Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 04:30 UTC

    De la Espriella wins Colombia's presidency in the preliminary count as Cepeda awaits the tally

    De la Espriella addressed Colombians with a “message of unity” and promised “absolute respect” for the vote

    Right-wing criminal lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia's presidency, according to the preliminary count by the Registraduría, defeating left-wing senator Iván Cepeda by less than a point in the closest runoff in the country's history. With about 99.9% of the tables processed, De la Espriella took 49.66% of the vote against Cepeda's 48.70%, a difference of some 250,000 ballots. The governing-coalition candidate acknowledged the preliminary count but warned that he would not accept the result until the definitive tally, and challenged 33,000 of the 120,000 polling tables; President Gustavo Petro said that “neither can proclaim himself president.”

  • Friday, June 19th 2026 - 10:47 UTC

    De la Espriella leads Colombia's runoff with contained triumphalism as Cepeda hopes for a late surge

    The first-round margin does not look comfortable heading into the runoff

    Right-wing lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella heads into Colombia's presidential runoff, set for this Sunday, June 21, as the favorite, though with contained triumphalism, while left-wing senator Iván Cepeda trusts that a late push can still overturn the result. Both campaigns sense the election is closer than the polls reflect.

  • Friday, June 12th 2026 - 21:19 UTC

    Colombia's far right eyes landslide amid fears Petro will reject runoff result

    In the first round on May 31, De la Espriella won about 10.3 million votes (43.74%) and Cepeda roughly 9.7 million (40.9%), a margin of under three points that sent both men to the runoff

    The campaign of Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, of the far-right Defenders of the Homeland movement, is aiming for a decisive win in the June 21 runoff to shield the outcome from possible challenges, his campaign chief said.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 07:44 UTC

    Colombia's runoff: a united right behind De la Espriella faces a divided left

    The left, which had made unity the axis of its campaign in 2025, went through the week with internal tensions

    The first of the three campaign weeks ahead of Colombia's presidential runoff, set for June 21, has been marked by a contrast: a right that had failed to unite for the first round ended up aligned behind far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, while the left of Senator Iván Cepeda and President Gustavo Petro has struggled to coordinate its effort. De la Espriella was the most-voted candidate on May 31, with 43.74% against Cepeda's 40.90%.

  • Monday, June 1st 2026 - 07:07 UTC

    Colombia: far-right De la Espriella advances first to runoff as Petro disowns results

    A few hours after polls closed, President Gustavo Petro publicly rejected the provisional results and denounced without evidence a variation in the electoral roll of around 800,000 voters

    Far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella took first place in the first round of the Colombian presidential elections held on Sunday, in a result that contradicted all previous polls and immediately opened an institutional crisis. With 99% of polling stations counted in the preliminary tally, De la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement, reached 43.7% of the vote —some 10.3 million ballots—, while leftist senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Pacto Histórico, obtained 40.9% with 9,649,081 votes. The runoff will be held on 21 June and the inauguration is scheduled for 7 August.

  • Sunday, May 31st 2026 - 19:30 UTC

    Leftist Iván Cepeda leads in early bulletins of Colombia's presidential first round

    “We are convinced that this afternoon we will celebrate the second progressive government in Colombia,” the senator said

    Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico coalition, was leading on Sunday in the early bulletins of the count in the first round of Colombia's presidential elections, in which the electorate was to choose the successor of current President Gustavo Petro. With just 1% of the polling stations counted, according to data released by the National Registry Office, Cepeda was obtaining around 47% of the votes, followed by far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement, with close to 40%. Right-wing uribista senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, registered around 6%. The effective electoral turnout will be known over the coming hours, in a country with more than 41 million eligible voters and a long historical pattern of high abstention.

  • Monday, May 25th 2026 - 04:24 UTC

    Three main Colombian presidential candidates close campaigns one week before first round

    The three main candidates: Paloma Valencia (Centro Democrático), Abelardo de la Espriella (Defensores de la Patria), and Iván Cepeda (Pacto Histórico) close campaigns in Colombia

    The three main contenders to succeed President Gustavo Petro on Sunday closed their campaigns with massive political rallies in different cities across the country, one week before the first round of the presidential elections of 31 May. Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Pacto Histórico; far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement; and right-wing senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, lead the polls, while around 10% of the electorate remains undecided one week before the vote. The eventual runoff is scheduled for 21 June.

  • Monday, February 9th 2026 - 20:53 UTC

    Colombia: Ruling-party candidate to file criminal complaint against ex-President Pastrana over Epstein files

    Cepeda said he would submit a complaint “so that the possible criminal conduct he may have engaged in can be investigated,” arguing that the disclosures warrant judicial scrutiny in Colombia

    Senator Iván Cepeda, the presidential candidate of Colombia’s ruling Pacto Histórico coalition, said he will file a criminal complaint against former President Andrés Pastrana (1998–2002) after Pastrana’s name appeared in newly declassified records linked to Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in the United States for her role in the trafficking scheme.

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